Math Specialists/Supervisors Summary

Tuesday, July 1, 2003

Our session today began with a debriefing from the session with Dr. Hiebert.

The following points/questions were raised throughout the discussion.

The video clips offered suggestions of new ways to have conversations with school math coaches. The suggestion was made to show the clips and use the clips as frames for beginning a dialogue embellished with excerpts from How People Learn.

It was suggested that the video clips could be used as focal points for discussion and to help teachers become self- reflective.

A discussion about observations and what an observer pays attention to during an observation ensued.

A question that recurred was how to have professional development around what students learn.

The clips and the discussion raised the question of do we really know what good teaching is? A concensus said, "No."

Dr. Hiebert suggested that there be a balance between conceptual understanding and skill development. That fact is one that we must make sure that our teachers are aware of.

Professional developers must become less judgmental.

A need for schools to develop focus groups that entertain critical issues is
needed. However scheduling that time is a common problem.

A set of resource books will be available to the specialists.

Tomorrow will be the last day for four specialists. Therefore, the agenda tomorrow will include a presentation of the professional development plan from each of the PCMI districts. We will complete the discussion with ideas from all the districts as to the feasibility of such a plan, the obstacles that may present themselves and possible solutions.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0314808.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed
in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect
the views of the National Science Foundation.